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Super-Rabbit
Super-Rabbit is a Merrie Melodies cartoon starring Bugs Bunny who is parodying the popular character Superman. It was released to theaters on April 3, 1943. Plot "Look! Up in the sky! It's a boid!" "Nah, it ain't a boid, it's a dive bomba!" "NO! It's SUPER RABBIT!" The cartoon opens with a similar opening to the 1940s Superman cartoons, radio shows, and later movie serials and television shows - "Faster than a speeding bullet" (in this case, a cork popped out of a gun), "More powerful than a locomotive" (a "choo-choo" train), "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" (of course, this being Bugs Bunny, Bugs falls frantically as soon as he clears the building). Once the cartoon establishes Bugs as "Super Rabbit- The Rabbit Of Tomorrow!", the cartoon moves to the lab of a scientist, whose name sounds like "Professor Cannafraz" as the announcer's voice fades out, and who is patterned in part after Richard Haydn's radio character Edwin Carp on the Burns and Allen radio show. The professor is creating a "super carrot". Bugs is his test subject, and immediately wolfs down the carrot, which now gives him super-abilities, such as invulnerability and flight... but only temporarily. He must eat another one from time to time, to replenish his powers. Bugs pulls out a newspaper article about "Cottontail Smith", a hunter in Texas who wants to hunt down all rabbits. Seeing a need, Bugs gathers up the super carrots, stashes them in a cigarette case, gives the professor a kiss on the nose and flies off. (In an amusing gag, Bugs flies past a horse who happens to be sauntering in the middle of the air, with the horse turning to the camera and going, "A rabbit? Up HERE!?") Bugs flies to "Deepinaharta Texas" (a recurring WB gag inspired by the song "Deep in the Heart of Texas"), and assumes a disguise as a "mild-mannered forest creature" (complete with oversized glasses and hat). He soon encounters Smith (who bears a striking resemblance to fellow Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson, at that time a United States congressman), and within a few panels already starts to have fun with him - switching Smith with his horse. When Smith tries to shoot Bugs, he finds than none of the bullets penetrate him. Bugs hands him a cannonball, eats another carrot ("Just a precaution"), then plays basketball with the cannonball. The bemused Smith and his horse are soon outwitted by Bugs, but they don't give up. The pair fly into the sky with their own airplane, try swooping in on Bugs, but soon find themselves piloting a control stick and the top window of their plane - and nothing else. Bugs soon runs out of power, but when he tries to recharge by eating another carrot, he fumbles his cigarette case and the carrots all fall to the ground. When Bugs lands on the ground, he opens his eyes to see a line of eaten carrots - both Smith and his horse are now superheroes. Bugs then turns to the camera and says "This looks like a job for a REAL Superman!" He ducks into a phone booth, and both Smith and the horse are ready to attack - until the booth opens and they both snap to attention and salute. Bugs marches out in a Marine uniform, singing the Marines Hymn, pausing to say, "Sorry, fellas, I can't play with you anymore. I got some important work to do," before marching off towards a sign pointing to "Berlin, Tokyo and points East" while finishing the Hymn. Gallery 'Lobby Cards' 'Screencaps' Reception The United States Marine Corps were so glad that Bugs Bunny decided to become a Marine in this film that they insisted that the character be officially inducted into the force as a private, which was done, complete with dogtags. The character was regularly promoted until Bugs was officially "discharged" at the end of World War II as a Master Sergeant. Audio commentary by Paul Dini for Super-Rabbit on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 (2005). Cottontail Smith later appears as one of Yosemite Sam's sidekicks in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The character himself has a voice similar to Sam's and Foghorn Leghorn's, only slightly less raucous. Production details This was Bugs Bunny's sixteenth cartoon, as well as the forty-seventh cartoon by Chuck Jones. In a twist of irony, Warner Bros. would later acquire DC Comics - publishers of Superman. This is the first Superman parody on Looney Tunes. The second is Robert McKimson's 1956 cartoon Stupor Duck, when Daffy Duck is the not-so-superhero looking for a villain who didn't exist. Trivia Availability *VHS - Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Bugs Bunny Cartoon Festival Featuring "Hold the Lion, Please" *VHS, Laserdisc - Cartoon Moviestars: Bugs and Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons *VHS - Bugs Bunny Collection: Bugs Bunny on Parade *Laserdisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 3, Side 2: Bugs Bunny *VHS - Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 2: Running Amuck (Chuck Jones) *DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Four *VHS/DVD - Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons References External links *Super-Rabbit at SuperCartoons.net * Super-Rabbit at B99.TV * *Super-Rabbit at the Big Cartoon Database Category:Merrie Melodies Category:Merrie Melodies shorts Category:Bugs Bunny Category:Bugs Bunny shorts Category:Directed by Chuck Jones Category:1940s shorts Category:1940s films Category:1940s Category:Chuck Jones Enterprises Category:1943 films Category:1943 shorts Category:Animated shorts Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons Category:Warner Bros. Animation Category:Vitaphone short films Category:Leon Schlesinger Studios Category:Looney Tunes Category:Looney Tunes shorts Category:Shorts Category:Films Category:Written by Tedd Pierce Category:Story by Tedd Pierce Category:Animated by Ken Harris Category:Animation by Ken Harris Category:Music by Carl Stalling Category:Musical Direction by Carl Stalling Category:Musical Direction by Carl W. Stalling Category:1943 Category:Layouts by John McGrew Category:Film Editing by Treg Brown Category:Voice Characterizations by Mel Blanc Category:Voices by Mel Blanc Category:Voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Voices by Tedd Pierce Category:Voiced by Tedd Pierce Category:Voice Characterizations by Tedd Pierce Category:Voices by Kent Rogers Category:Voiced by Kent Rogers Category:Voice Characterizations by Kent Rogers Category:Voice Characterizations by Dick Nelson Category:Voices by Dick Nelson Category:Voiced by Dick Nelson Category:Produced by Leon Schlesinger Category:Warner Bros. shorts Category:Leon Schlesinger Productions Category:Backgrounds by Gene Fleury